THE STORY – Heike, a customer service manager at an understaffed cleaning company, must secure more working hours and revenue for a subcontractor after she is caught trying to poach an employee from his company.
THE CAST – Sabine Thalau, Nada Kosturin, Werner Posselt, Sadibou Diabang & Nigyar Velagic
THE TEAM – Kilian Armando Friedrich (Director/Writer), Tünde Sautier (Writer) & Daniel Kunz (Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 93 Minutes
In “I Understand Your Displeasure,” German writer-director Kilian Armando Friedrich crafts a narrative that feels less like a traditional drama and more like a claustrophobic dispatch from the front lines of the underpaid. Drawing on his documentary roots, Friedrich utilizes non-professional actors and a handheld, doc-style aesthetic to immerse us in the invisible labor of the cleaning industry—a sector defined by night shifts, extreme price wars, and a complete lack of societal recognition. While films like “Sunshine Cleaning” or “Triangle of Sadness” have examined the industry through the lens of quirky indie drama or biting satire, “I Understand Your Displeasure” is a somber outlier that focuses purely on the structural and emotional weight of the labor itself.
Heike (portrayed with a weary, steeled intensity by Sabine Thalau) is a 59-year-old cleaning manager caught in a permanent pincer maneuver. She is the mediator between demanding clients, a dismissive boss, and a staff of cleaners who are struggling to survive on the margins. The film’s tension is rooted in a systematic hollowing out of dignity in favor of the lowest bid; since the deregulation of the industry, the well-being of the worker has been sacrificed at the altar of efficiency and who gets the best gig. This is personified in Heike’s conflict with a powerful subcontractor. When Heike attempts to poach a worker to fill her own thinning ranks, the subcontractor retaliates with a ruthless ultimatum: secure more revenue for his team, or he withdraws his support entirely.
The moral conundrum Friedrich presents is devastating. To save the company’s precarious partnership, Heike must essentially sacrifice her own. The choice to dismiss a loyal employee to satisfy a demanding and greedy subcontractor is the film’s central pivot, asking the question: Can your humanity survive the demands of a cut-throat, low-wage business?
Friedrich’s direction is intentionally suffocating. By choosing to stay physically close to Heike at all times, the film eliminates any distance. There are no wide, establishing shots to provide the audience with a breather; instead, we are trapped within Heike’s lived experience. This choice viscerally translates the relentless pressure of her professional life. We see the toll in the way she cleans with a simmering anger and the distant, haunted stare she wears even during brief moments of celebration.
However, while the film succeeds as a character study and a critique of the cleaning industry, it falters in its narrative execution. Many of the subplots, particularly those involving Heike’s ex-partner, Detlev (Werner Posselt), and the specific logistics of the business rivalry, feel undercooked. The script also frequently gestures toward deeper themes like the exploitation of foreign workers, but these elements often remain at a surface level, obscured by a plot that can be frustratingly difficult to follow.
“I Understand Your Displeasure” is a workplace drama that looks at an industry that isn’t given much thought, just as its workers are essentially invisible. The film is also an exploration of the spiritual erosion that occurs when efficiency is prioritized over humanity. It’s interesting, especially as, through Heike, you see the hardness that is required to survive a system that views you as a line item on a balance sheet. While it could have benefited from a sharper, more refined script to match Friedrich’s documentary approach, it remains a sobering look at the resilience required to find meaning when you are working for so little.
